{"id":793193,"date":"2026-05-01T01:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.com\/jurisprudences\/romanian-judicial-authority-v-oprean\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T01:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:59:12","slug":"romanian-judicial-authority-v-oprean","status":"publish","type":"kji_decision","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.com\/zh-hans\/jurisprudences\/romanian-judicial-authority-v-oprean\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Judicial Authority v Oprean"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"kji-decision\">\n<div class=\"kji-full-text\">\n<p>MR JUSTICE CHOUDHURY: 1 This is an\u00a0appeal against the grant of bail to Mr\u00a0Oprean by District Judge Rose at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on 29\u00a0March\u00a02018. The Judicial Authority, represented here by Mr\u00a0Tinsley, claims that the conditions of bail are insufficient and that there remain substantial grounds for believing that Mr\u00a0Oprean would fail to surrender to custody if released on bail. 2 The background to this matter is as follows. Mr\u00a0Oprean is a\u00a0Romanian national. In 2014 he was, it appears, residing and working in Romania as a\u00a0dance teacher. He was convicted that year of an\u00a0offence committed whilst working as a\u00a0dance teacher. The circumstances of that offence were that he took advantage of an\u00a011-year-old girl and tried to have sexual intercourse with her. There was apparently digital penetration and rape or an\u00a0attempted rape as far as one can tell from the description of the offence in the European Arrest Warrant (\u201cEAW\u201d). It also appears that Mr\u00a0Oprean, according to the EAW, did not acknowledge the deed, trying through his chosen advocate to accredit the idea that the victim was not a\u00a0virgin, had sex with a\u00a0friend and ultimately that these relationships were agreed. 3 It appears that there was a\u00a0trial of this matter which was attended by Mr\u00a0Oprean and that he was convicted of the offence and sentenced to 5\u00a0years\u2019 imprisonment initially. It then appears that he appealed against that sentence or appealed against his conviction \u2013 it is not entirely clear \u2013 but at any rate at a\u00a0further hearing on 25\u00a0January\u00a02018 the sentence was increased to 7\u00a0years. 4 The EAW was issued by a judge of the Romanian courts on 7\u00a0March\u00a02018. That was certified by the National Crime Agency on 19\u00a0March\u00a02018, and on 29\u00a0March\u00a02018 Mr\u00a0Oprean was arrested in Harrow and taken to Harrow police station. 5 At the conclusion of the custody process he was taken to Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court. There he applied for bail pending his extradition hearing which has now been set for 10\u00a0May\u00a02018. Bail was opposed, however DJ Rose granted bail on certain conditions. These were that: there would be security of \u00a32,000 to be payable pre-release; he would surrender his passport, although that does not appear in the current list of conditions; he would be subject to electronic curfew between midnight and 6\u00a0a.m. daily; he would be required to keep his mobile phone fully charged and on at all times; he would be required to report to Harrow police station between 7\u00a0p.m. and 9\u00a0p.m. daily; he would be required to remain resident at the specified address; and he was not to apply for any international travel documents or hold any. 6 The Judicial Authority appealed against the granting of bail. The conditions in respect of such an\u00a0appeal have been complied with, it seems; therefore, the matter comes on before me within 48\u00a0hours, subject to holidays, of the original bail decision. It is submitted by Mr Tinsley that, although the bail conditions are relatively stringent, the significant sentence of 7\u00a0years in this case and the relatively weak ties with the UK, and the fact that, on the face of it, the requested person is a\u00a0fugitive from justice mean, that there is a\u00a0real risk of absconding and that there are substantial grounds for believing that he would not surrender to custody. 7 Mr\u00a0Gledhill has taken me to a\u00a0number of documents, which show again, on the face of it, that the requested person was resident in the UK in Harrow in 2016 and was working at that time; that he was also in work at around the time of his trial which is said to be in\u00a0October 2017; that his wife was also in this country and working; and that there is a\u00a0stable residence which is subject to a tenancy agreement dated 10\u00a0July\u00a02017. Whilst Mr\u00a0Gledhill very fairly accepts that Mr\u00a0Oprean must be regarded as a\u00a0fugitive from justice, he submits that that matter can be mitigated to a\u00a0very substantive extent by certain factors. These are that there were several opportunities for Mr\u00a0Oprean to abscond or disappear from the scene, one being shortly after the trial, and another being after realising that his appeal had been unsuccessful. In fact, at that stage, says Mr\u00a0Gledhill, far from disappearing, Mr\u00a0Oprean made enquiries through a solicitor in the UK as to whether or not he was subject to a\u00a0EAW. In those circumstances, and also taking into account the fact that there was co-operation upon arrest, and a\u00a0willing submission of travel documents, it cannot be said that this is a\u00a0man who would be likely to abscond were bail to continue with the conditions that have been set by the DJ. 8 The question for me is whether there are substantial grounds for believing that Mr\u00a0Oprean would fail to surrender if released on bail. I\u00a0note what Mr\u00a0Gledhill has said in his powerful submissions in favour of bail continuing. However, I\u00a0am satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing in this case that Mr\u00a0Oprean would fail to surrender if released. The factors I\u00a0have in mind, in particular, are that this is a\u00a0conviction for a\u00a0serious offence resulting in quite a\u00a0substantial sentence of 7\u00a0years. Whilst there does appear to have been a\u00a0degree of co-operation with the Romanian authorities around the time of the trial, it is notable that Mr\u00a0Oprean decided to leave Romania and return to the UK whilst his appeal was ongoing and without knowing what the outcome of that appeal was. Although there were no express restrictions on Mr\u00a0Oprean at that time, that still rendered him a\u00a0fugitive from justice, given that he had left the jurisdiction in which he was convicted. It may be that he believed at the time that his conviction would be overturned or his sentence would be reduced. Matters changed very significantly, in my judgment, as of 25January\u00a02018 when not only was his conviction confirmed but his sentence was increased to 7\u00a0years. Any inference of willingness to co-operate would have to be viewed in the light of that final decision by the Appeal Court in Romania. It does not appear that there are any further appeal steps available to Mr\u00a0Oprean and that has to be factored into assessing whether or not there would be a\u00a0reasonable likelihood of further co-operation. 9 I\u00a0do note that there is not a\u00a0history of offending other than this particular offence and that Mr\u00a0Oprean has on the face of it appeared to be relatively co-operative. However, as I\u00a0have said, matters must be viewed in the light of the final sentence imposed by the Romanian court. 10 I\u00a0am also not entirely persuaded that the co-operation or continuing contact with the Romanian authorities has been as consistent or as diligent as may be the case. It is suggested that, having kept contact with the Romanian authorities for some time, Mr\u00a0Oprean lost contact with his appointed advocate. There is no real explanation as to why that may have occurred or how it may have occurred, and it seems surprising in the circumstances that contact could be lost so easily with a\u00a0professional representative in Romania. There was an\u00a0effort, it seems, to find out whether there was a\u00a0EAW in place, but one cannot read too much into that. There is certainly nothing in the correspondence which suggests that if there was a\u00a0EAW in place, Mr\u00a0Oprean was offering to submit to it. 11 For those reasons, and bearing in mind of course that the extradition hearing itself is only a\u00a0short time away, it seems to me that in the circumstances it would be just and proportionate to continue to remand Mr\u00a0Oprean in custody pending his extradition hearing. 12 For those reasons, the appeal is allowed. MR TINSLEY: My\u00a0Lord, thank\u00a0you. MR JUSTICE CHOUDHURY: Is there anything else? MR TINSLEY: No, thank\u00a0you. MR JUSTICE CHOUDHURY: Thank\u00a0you both very much. CERTIFICATE Opus 2 International Ltd. Hereby certifies that the above is an accurate and complete record of the judgment or part thereof. Transcribed by Opus 2 International Ltd. (Incorporating Beverley F. Nunnery &amp; Co.) Official Court Reporters and Audio Transcribers 5 New Street Square, London EC4A 3BFTel: 020 7831 5627 Fax: 020 7831 7737 admin@opus2.digital This transcript has been approved by the Judge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"kji-sep\" \/>\n<p class=\"kji-source-links\"><strong>Sources officielles :<\/strong> <a class=\"kji-source-link\" href=\"https:\/\/caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/ewhc\/admin\/2018\/959\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">consulter la page source<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"kji-license-note\"><em>Open Justice Licence (The National Archives).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MR JUSTICE CHOUDHURY: 1 This is an appeal against the grant of bail to Mr Oprean by District Judge Rose at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on 29 March 2018. The Judicial Authority, represented here by Mr Tinsley, claims that the conditions of bail are insufficient and that there remain substantial grounds for believing that Mr Oprean would fail to surrender to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":""},"kji_country":[7608],"kji_court":[7649],"kji_chamber":[],"kji_year":[47917],"kji_subject":[7650],"kji_keyword":[7705,9055,50771,15899,8348],"kji_language":[7611],"class_list":["post-793193","kji_decision","type-kji_decision","status-publish","hentry","kji_country-royaume-uni","kji_court-high-court-administrative-court","kji_year-47917","kji_subject-administratif","kji_keyword-appeal","kji_keyword-justice","kji_keyword-oprean","kji_keyword-romanian","kji_keyword-sentence","kji_language-anglais"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Romanian Judicial Authority v Oprean - Ma\u00eetre Hassan Kohen, avocat en droit p\u00e9nal \u00e0 Paris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.com\/zh-hans\/jurisprudences\/romanian-judicial-authority-v-oprean\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Romanian Judicial Authority v Oprean\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MR JUSTICE CHOUDHURY: 1 This is an appeal against the grant of bail to Mr Oprean by District Judge Rose at Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on 29 March 2018. 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